Jen Credible: Until The End
"Dear Jen:
How are you doing, kid? Heh, why do I even bother to ask? You must probably be slaying one or two monster here and there or imprisoning some other villain, as always. You know I don't mind, just as long as you keep taking care of yourself, or you know who's going to be there to scold you if I ever find you in a hospital bed or something like that. Though, not that I'm really worried, just had to remind you, you know why.
So, how's this old geezer, you may wonder? Well, right now, I'm in the middle of Africa, not sure which part anymore. It feels like heat's melting my mind over here. All I know right now it's that I've been traveling around the desserts for weeks with two other companions, a journalist and a guide. We've been searching for the ruins I told you about the last time we've seen, remember? According to the manuscripts I've found in the Gaian Library, this could be the tomb of the very same Siddhārtha Gautama! Yeah, I know you must probably be thinking I'm just looking for the cat's fifth paw, but I really got a feeling I'm up to something good this time. Who knows? I may be able to find out more about the Buddhist religion than any other archeologist has done for centuries.
But right now, my buddies and I have been blessed with the opportunity to rest in a town that happened to be around the way to the ruins, and while I was here, I found out I had the chance to send some mail, and so I decided to send you this letter, just to let you now I'm doing fine. I don't know when I'll be back in America, but I'll make sure to keep in contact with you. For now, just make sure to keep yourself safe. Yeah, I know I'm getting annoying with so much insistence, but hey, that's part of my work in your team too, remember?
Tell Dave to try not to screw it up next time, and Rose that she owns me a beer. Oh, and did I tell you to be careful? Just kidding. I hope we see each other again soon, Jen. Until then, if there's any deity up there, may they watch over you.
Your old friend, Jack Daniel"
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The alarm went off right after an explosion was heard on the lower levels of the base. At that time, in the highest level, Professor Dementor, a world-wide known mad-scientist and, while not of the most dangerous, certainly one of the most frequent high-level threats to the world, walked toward the main room's computer. He already had an idea of who could be the responsible for the incident, but better make sure it wasn't just a mistake of his henchmen. Unfortunately, it seemed like the camera of the room that had gone ka-boom had been damaged and so, he couldn't spot the supposed intruders. Yet, he could still hear a couple of voices coughing.
"Are you crazy?!" A female, overriding voice exclaimed "We're here to stop the volcano from erupting! Not causing it ourselves!"
"You told me to think of a way to open a path!" Another voice, this one male, retorted.
"And couldn't you think of anything safer!?"
"Look, we got what we wanted; now let's go forth before the henchmen arrive!"
"FREEZE" That was a henchman's voice.
"Damn it…"
The rest he could hear were a series of punches and screams, the latest clearly coming mostly from his men. However, there was something fishy about the male and female voices. Either they had gone through some last change of their puberty since the last time they met, or they weren't who Dementor thought they were.
"But if it izn't Fräulein Possible… zen who could it be!?"
Cursing in his mother tongue, he smashed his fist on the computer panel. Here he thought that for once he would be able to carry out with his plans without any interfering since he heard that rumor about the teen-hero Kim Possible being retired from her heroic business. But who else was there to irritatingly annoy him now?
The answer didn't take long to arrive when suddenly a banging started come from the principal door and the same womanly voice spoke from the other side of it.
"Professor Dementor! Either surrender and come out in peace or we'll force this door and things WILL get ugly!"
Oh, no… not ANOTHER door knocked down!
"ZAT DOOR IZ OPEN!!" He screamed, loud enough to produce some echo through the lair.
The doorknob was pulled and the double door suddenly opened, revealing a pair of late teens standing side by side. They definitely weren't the duo he was used to. The boy had sandy blond and short hair and was wearing a brown jacket with multiple pockets, red t-shirt underneath it and simple jeans with a pack belt. Yet, he didn't seem to be carrying any special equipment.
"Hey! Who would have thought? It WAS open!" He stated, laughing a bit and looking at his friend.
The girl sighed. She had nearly black brown hair and at shoulder-length and was wearing some clothes that resembled the latest ones of Kim Possible, but with different colors. The sleeved top was dark blue and the pants were dust-colored. She also wore an equipment belt and black gloves.
Although they weren't the same, this team did remind the mad scientist of the one that tended to challenge him.
"Whatever" The girl stated "Professor Dementor, you can surrender now or we can kick your German butt. It's your choice!"
"And shust WHO in the vorld are you two?!"
"Your worst nightmare!!" The boy exclaimed, taking a pretentious posture.
The girl sighed and scolded him with a punch on the head. "Dave!"
"Ouch! Yeah, I know that's my name, but hey, it's not as impressive!"
"Yeah, right! Why don't you try to impress me and do the fighting for once?" She replied.
"C'mon, Jen. You know that's your specialty"
Yeah, Dementor concluded, they definitely reminded him of Team Possible. He coughed, reclaim the duo's attention, whom seemed to have forgotten he was there and he wasn't happy they were there!
"Credible Investigations, at your service" Jen said, introducing herself and her companion "He's my partner, Dave Seer"
"And she's my leader" Dave followed "Jen Credible"
"Shall I repeat your options, Professor?" Jen asked maliciously.
"No need to, Fräulein Credible. I already know what I vill do" He replied, smirking.
They understood. "Butt kicking, it is then?"
"HENCHMEN, GO!!"
And following such order, a big number of muscular henchmen fell from the roof all around the room. There were about twenty or thirty, all of them wearing the same gray uniform and helmet and welding combat staffs with electroshock-bludgeon in both ends. Instantly, Jen adopted her fighting position while Dave walked back a couple of steps.
"Why is it that Kim's villains ALWAYS have henchmen?" He just had to ask.
"Would you rather demons?" She replied, just before jumping into the fight.
She ran forward the closest henchman and jumped at the right time to avoid his staff, kicking him in the head while stealing his weapon. She used it to beat two others who were nearby before throwing it against an approaching one, sending him flying backwards and opening a path between his comrades. She avoided another attack by flipping backwards and taking the opportunity to once again steal her enemy's weapon trapping it between her feet. This wasn't her kind of weapon, but since she wouldn't use her lethal axes on humans unless it was to-live-or-to-die necessary, anything useful would be okay.
Seven of them fell to the floor when she did a spinning attack, and then she jumped high into the sky to avoid the three men that tried to jump over her. Alas, they followed her in her fly along two more companions. And in the air, Jen electro-shocked the first one, kicked the second, grabbed the third and threw him against the fourth. The fifth suffered the same fate of the first one, expect for the fact that he was smashed hard against the floor after suffering an electronic impact on the head.
And back on the ground, one henchman awaited to attack her with his weapon, but he missed as she landed both feet right on the non-electrocuted part of the staff. Another henchman tried to attack her from behind, but again, she stopped his weapon with one foot, ending up being held by both men's weapons while a group of their buddies jumped around and toward her once more.
"Doy!"
After throwing her weapon to the air, Jen quickly flipped to her side, standing both hands as she started to spin with all the adrenaline flowing throw her body. She flexed her arms and straightened them with all her might, raising her tornado kicks to the air and sharing them with anyone brave or fool enough for getting in her way. The weapon fell back to her hand just when she landed.
As she ran around them, the defeated henchmen just kept and kept piling up, and Dementor was really, really angrier by every second.
"WHERE-ARE-ZOZE-LAZER!?" He demanded euphorically. Claiming for someone to grab the new laser-canon they had installed for security means and use it against that apparent half-sister of Kim Possible!
"Right here, baby!" Unfortunately, said "someone" happened to be no one else but the cocky sidekick.
With his jaw dropped, Demetor watched in awe as a red light concentrated on the tip of the installed gigantic weapon, and then, said red light exploded as a wide beam that ran across the room and sent flying away more than half of his men. Leaving just a few who just didn't dare to face the teenager girl any longer. Yet, they weren't fast enough, and in matter of seconds, the only one that reminded standing in the battlefield was none other but Jen Credible.
Passing her hand through her hair to remove it from her face, the girl breathed deeply before starting to the one man she had come from.
She smirked. "So, ready for prison?"
Gulping, the mad scientist stepped back slowly and trembling. Jen, who still had the electrical staff in her hand, had just found the right way to give it one last use.
Dementor's rival's catchphrase never suited him more. "OH, ZNAP!"
And then, everything went black.
By the time he woke up, they were no longer in his lair, not even in the volcano he had placed it. No, he was in the back of a police van, already handcuffed and along his men. Outside, which seemed to be the outskirts of the city he had threatened, the police was getting the remaining henchmen in some others van, while the city's Mayor, a tiny man with a funny moustache, expressed his thanks to the victorious duo.
"My heroic youngster, the city of Townsville is now in debt with you for stopping this madman from causing a volcanic eruption"
"It all comes with the job" Jen said, placing her hand behind her head.
"Is there any way we can repay you for your assistance, Ms. Credible and Mr. Seer?"
"Well, actually…" Dave started.
"If you'd be so kind to donate some funds for our team's activities, we'd be really grateful"
"Oh? Are you heroes for charge?"
"Not really, but…"
"We go to where we are needed" Jen explained "But everything cost money, and we hardly ever have enough for ourselves like to keep on with our business. So, every now and then, we need to ask for some assistance in order to go on"
"Oh, I see! Very well, then, that's sure a worthy cause for donating! Let's see how much we could settle!"
"Great!" Dave cheered.
"Thank you very much. We really…" Jen stopped herself when suddenly her cell phone began ringing "Dave, take care of it"
"Sure!"
Leaving the negotiations with the Mayor to her friend, Jen walked a few steps away to answer the call, which she already knew who it was from.
"What's up, Rose?" She asked to her team's secretary and person in charge of handling the economy and organization of their group.
"Got a new case, Jen" The Puerto Rican girl told her through the phone.
"WHAT!?" She had to be kidding "Already!? We just finished capturing Dementor!"
"I know, do I need to remind you whose idea was it to take over both hers AND Miss Possible's jobs?"
"No, you don't…" Jen replied, acknowledging both that she wasn't kidding and that she was right. When Kim Possible retired from her hero business because of reasons more than understanding, Jen was the one who instantly decided that her team would take care of the villains Kim used to keep on the line, along with the villains and demons they already used to handle. But boy… this was wearing them out! Just yesterday they had to face that demon-imitator Pazuzu again, today Dementor, and today again… who was it? Rose didn't tell her yet, but she almost didn't want to know. Man, why couldn't be a hero be easier?
"Anyway, what's this case about?"
"Cobalt"
"Crap…"
Cobalt… the sneakiest and most skillful thief Jen had ever known. If there was one, among all the villains she had faced, that Jen would consider her personal rival… that was bluish woman, Cobalt. No security system could spot her. No fortress was impenetrable for her. Whatever she was after, she'd get it without leaving as much as a footprint. Jen had some sort of respect for the woman's skill, specially because of how good as a fighter she was, but that could only fuel the rivalry between them.
"What did she steal this time?" Jen asked.
"Nothing, at least not yet"
"What do you mean?"
"Wade passed me over this information. He's been hacking Hench Co.'s computer system every now and then, to know about any possible move that any villain could do before they did it. He recently found out that Cobalt hired some transport services from their company. Apparently, she's heading for Japan."
"Japan? That's weird. Do you have any idea of what she might be after?"
"Not really. However, the name Yamanouchi appeared on the information Wade managed to obtain"
"Yamanouchi? That sounds… familiar"
"A secret Ninja School settled in the high mountains of Japan." Rose explained "Remember Ron Stoppable? He studied there for a couple of weeks as a transferred student"
"Ron's involved with that school?" Jen asked "Do you think we should call him?"
"No time. If Wade's calculation and my speculations are right, Cobalt should have already arrived to at least Japan. We already managed to get a ride for you, from one of the persons Kim helped, that is"
Jen sighed, which, Rose knew, was the equivalent to a nod in their conversations. It wasn't like them to do things this way, but it wasn't like they had much of an option either. Their funds were never too big, but there was the opportunity to take help from the people Kim used to help when she was doing these jobs. It just didn't felt right to charge for favors done by someone else, but they knew the reason was worth it. And in the end, like Dave used to tell, if they were going to take over Kim's responsibilities, they should also have some right to the privileges that came with her job, right?
"An airship should be picking you and Dave at Townsville's airport. You two will be able to rest and recover during the flight"
"Understood. So I guess we oughta go to this secret ninja school, right?"
"It's our best lead. Good luck"
"You know, you could bring me some good news every now and then, too"
"Oh! Now that you mention it, a letter from Jack arrived just this morning!"
"No way! Really!? What does he say?"
"Not much, but he's okay and having a good time, apparently. I'll give you the letter as soon as you get back here"
"Well, glad to hear that. Dave and I will be heading to the airport now"
"Talk ya later, then"
"Have a nice day"
Nice? Yeah, nice way to put it! Well, if she managed to kick Cobalt's blue butt, then maybe this could be called a good day, even better if she managed to send her to prison. Just when she closed her cell-phone and put it back in her pocket, she turned around to meet with Dave.
"Hey! So…" She started, excited "How much did we earn?"
"Well…"
"C'mon! Tell me!"
"Nothing"
Jen swore: If silent awkwardness could be measured, Dave had just broken a new record.
"What!? B-b-but WHY!?"
"Well… I made a joke about his hat, and apparently, he took it way too seriously and… heck! You know I'm not good at negotiations! This is your fault, you should have handled it!!"
"Dave…"
"W-what?" The blonde boy asked, suddenly scared of the girl's sinister tone of voice.
"You know I want to kick your ass right now, don't you?"
"…yeah"
"I mean, reeeeaally want to"
"…yeeeeaah…"
"So can you tell me just WHY the HELL are you SMILING!?"
"Because you won't?"
'Smartass', she thought. At times like these, she'd wish he didn't know her so well. But yeah, she wasn't going to kick his sorry ass; however, he wasn't going to escape from one good, painful and surprising STAMP!!
"OUCH!!"
Which… would leave the boy jumping on one foot while holding the other one with both hands. Humming, Jen just walked away.
"Stop whining! We got a plane to catch. And like Jack would say: Do not screw up next time!"
"Okay, I'll try" The sidekick said, starting to follow his friend "Heh, good old Jack, wonder where he might be right now"
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And speaking of the devil, one might say, by the time his letter arrived to its destination, its writer was just about to reach his.
If there was one kind of place that the doctor and archeologist Jack Daniels would define as the most resembling one to hell on earth, that was the dessert, specially the biggest and hottest one in the world: The Sahara. The landscape was nothing more than endless sands and rocks, with not even the slightest drop of water in miles around, and the heat wouldn't even let you see clearly what's ahead of you, as it would always blur your view like warm fog. The walks seemed endlessly, the temperature could embrace even your bones, and the only thing you can think about is for it to end, which would never happen as soon as you'd wish. Yeah, this was definitely hell on earth.
However, the discovery he could make from this would definitely be worth it. All the hints agreed on the trail he was following: The way to the east, in paths that could no longer be done by either horses or camels. The only unexplained wonder, regardless of how many books he read, was why the mythical leader of the Indian's religion would have been buried in such foreign land. Well, he did have his theories, which he could probably verify at the tomb as soon as they found it.
Yet… if there was something his companions and he shared, that was the feeling of something being amiss.
"It should be around here, right?" Jack asked, looking around.
It wasn't like there was any place of the dessert that could be unmistakably recognizable, but he knew they had followed the path just like it was instructed in the millenary manuscripts he had discovered. It should be at least distinguishable in the panorama. They had been extra careful with the locations and instructions. It just had to be around here.
"Theoretically, it should" Kei Amakura, one of his partners, said.
"Maybe we skipped it?" Jack suggested.
"Maybe… or maybe this is all just a bogus"
Jack signed. Kei Amakura had proven to be a worthy companion for this journey; however, the young Japanese man did not share his optimism and enthusiasm on their quest. As a non-fiction writer, Kei was too much like a scientist: He needed proof, scientist proof if possible, to believe in things. Or so was the impression he usually gave, because Jack still couldn't understand how such type of man could adventure himself into a trip like this when he knew this could be an actual bogus. Of course, it could be a bogus just because they didn't have scientist proof, but Jack was sure this wasn't one. His sixth sense never failed him in this kind of situations. He just knew this was real.
"The tomb is lost" Sheek, the guide, said in his Muslim accent and not so good English "Desserts guards the tomb for a reason. It won't be revealed easily"
Moustafa "Sheek" Rorenchu, a man of low profile who preferred to go by his nickname, wherever he had got it from. Though, actually… to be more accurately: a mouse of low profile. Only heaven knew how this was possible, but apparently, as Jack and Kei learned from the town where they met Sheek, nobody seemed to care, or even notice, that he was a mouse! A speaking, green, hat-and-tunic-wearer, anthropomorphic and funny looking mouse!! And an excellent guide too! Jack even doubted they could have gotten a better one, and after some days of traveling with him, the fact that he was a mouse… well, it just didn't seem that weird anymore.
"What do you mean?" Kei asked.
"Ancient tombs are place of soul resting. Nest for spirits. Spirit wish for peace. For tomb to reveal to us, tomb must trust us. We must call forth tomb"
Jack and Kei couldn't help looking at each other for a second in shared discomfiture. The worst part was that, as stupid as that sounded, they just didn't have any better idea.
"And… just how do we do that?"
"…I'm just a mouse"
Yeah, THAT was his typical quote for "I don't know" or "Don't ask me anymore", probably the only thing from him both of them were tired of.
"How about reading over the notes again?" Kei proposed.
Without any better idea, Jack just grabbed his bag and placed it on the sand and took of a couple of book for him and Kei to check them out. Not that they actually expected to find a way to "call forth tomb", but it was the best they could do.
Maybe a bit more of Buddhist material would have been useful, but… they had to work with what they had. While Kei double-checked the supposed location of the tomb they were looking for, Jack reviewed some documents from the Heian period, of the ninth century, particularly those he had thought to be the least important. These ones spoke about "Sangai", which literally means "Three worlds". In some way, those three worlds were two different representation of reality and existence, one of them meaning Past, Present and Future, and the other one, more accurately in his opinion, meant the spiritual world, the physical world, and the one in between, which consisted in the reality seen through human's eyes, as the living body was considered through these beliefs as the fusion of both worlds, being physical and spiritual simultaneously. This one "world" had a name on it, which escaped him right now. He remembered that it meant the possibly main maternal organ on a woman, though. So…
"How do you say 'womb world' in Japanese?" He asked Kei.
"Taizo-kai"
Jack was about to nod to that, but he couldn't, as he suddenly got to stand up and grab his books tight while the sand under his feet started to move violently. The three adventurers couldn't believe their eyes as the entire terrain shaped itself like by art of magic with them being in the middle of it. The sand wasn't attempting to cover them. On the contrary, they were actually going down, but just because the dessert was, like, opening a crater right beneath them!
"Taizo-kai! Taizo-kai!" Sheek repeated, apparently enthusiastic "The tomb is called! You did it!"
And as unbelievable as that sounded, the truth was revealed when the sands stopped moving, and in the deepest of the recently created depression, a high construction had been revealed!
"Is… is that…?"
"Yes!" Jack confirmed, a big smile showing in his face "It's the tomb!!"
With their strength renewed, the group ran down toward the recently discovered building. And man, it was huge!! Far more amazing and exciting than what any of them expected. This would surely category as one of the biggest tombs discovered in the world. Its size was comparable to the biggest Buddhist temples he had heard of. It was hard to believe such construction could have been covered by sand, specially in terrains like the ones they were now. But regardless, they found it and that was all that mattered. Now, just where was the door?
It didn't take long for them to find it, and their anxiousness was making it hard to keep it cool. The entrance was a double door made of heavy rock. As expected from these kinds of ancient structures, there were many things engraved on it, such as oriental symbols, including what seemed like two worlds that Jack asked Kei to translate.
His face became puzzled when reading it. "Amara… Matrix?"
Jack blinked. "What does that mean?"
"I'm not sure" Kei admitted "In some other context, 'Matrix' could mean Womb. But Amara…" He stopped, reflecting on it for a moment "It does ring a bell, but from another culture"
"Which culture?"
"Hindu mythology"
Now that was weird. But of course, it wasn't like they were going to stick there just to wonder about that mystery.
"Any idea of how to open this?" Jack asked Sheek.
"…I'm just a mouse"
Jack and Kei sighed and then proceeded to force the door open. While Jack, being a really bookworm, wasn't in an optimistic condition, Kei was someone who always kept himself in good shape, so moving the heavy stone, while hard, wasn't impossible. Soon, the three of them were inside, and before both humans could notice, Sheek had taken out a torch and lighted it, illuminating the dark path ahead, which leaded them to a descending stair of old, fragile steps. Fortunately, there were no accidents as they went down. They half expected a labyrinth up ahead, but it turned out that the tomb consisted mainly of just one main and tall room that had its own illumination thanks to the window-like holes from the top of it. Jack had never felt so fulfilled in his life with such discovery.
The ancient coffin was there, right in front of them! It looked just like he had imagined it. Old, made of rock, a bit shattered, with a heavy lid and with lots of symbols around it, particularly a smaller version of the "Taizo-kai" impression engraved on the lid. The surrounding, with obviously lot of sand around, was full of oriental sculpture, such as pillars (one of them already knocked down), statues and one big structure placed right in front of the tomb (opposite to the one and only door) which meaning they couldn't quite figure out yet, but that looked like a giant gravestone that nearly reached the roof. All of it was just so amazing…
However, not everything was quite good around here, and a really big disturbance filled them when they noticed something that didn't belong there. Something which's presence here just didn't make sense at all.
"What's this?" Kei asked, as he noticed a couple of books on top of the grave.
No, they weren't even books. They were… a magazine and a notebook!?
"What the…?"
They didn't even look old. These things could hardly have existed for more than a decade. Kei passed the notebook to Jack, while he checked over the actually modern magazine. A Japanese magazine!? This just didn't make sense, how could this be here? Weren't they the ones who had discovered the tomb? And wait, this was an occult-themed magazine!?
"Kei, this is written in Japanese" Jack mentioned "And… it was written by hand! The paper doesn't even seem to be old!"
What in the world could this mean? How could these things have reached this place? And what did they have to do with it anyway? Wait a minute!
"Special Article…" Kei read out loud, translating the heading of a page of the magazine. "The Gaians and the Miroku" Why did that ring a bell? He knew that 'Miroku' was the name given to the Indian High Priest in the oriental side of the world, but …
"Did you say Gaians!?" Jack suddenly asked.
Of course! He had mentioned it. "Yeah! What were the Gaians, again?"
"A religious factious" The archeologist answered "No longer active, but it was a document that supposedly came from their library which gave me the first lead to find this place"
So it did have something to do with this! But that still didn't answer most of their questions. If they were the first ones here in centuries, how could these things be here, in this tomb? Had someone actually come here before JUST to leave these things and forget about them? Now how much sense did that make!?
"Kei, could you translate this?" Jack asked, handing over the notebook. It had a few words written per page, but nothing he could understand.
Kei did so.
"Call it what you will – a revelation from god, or a curse of the demon king. The fact remains that our world came to an end" He said while reading, and then he moved to the next page. "A heretic called upon an unearthly light, and devastation ensued. Chaos crawled out of the depths of the ocean, from the black abyss." Again he moved to the next page, feeling more and more worried with each line he read. "Death upon death… Nothing but death in this barren land. Who can we pray to? There are only demons and fiends here." The next page was the last one. "A voice in the dark beguiles me, 'Truth is a mystery, unraveled by the candles' flames.'" Only then, he looked at the cover of the notebook to find out where the text was from: "The Journal of a Man Who Wandered into Another World"
Silent remained, along with a heavy feeling of uneasiness. All they could do was to wonder whatever all this meant, or how had these thing gotten here. Granted, it wasn't like they had any way to really solve this mystery, but still… there was this feeling that just wouldn't let them alone. A feeling that was telling them that something was amiss, that something was… wrong, and that, somehow, they could be in… danger?
What none of them happened to realize, was that now, they were being watched…
"Who would write that?" Jack asked, looking at Kei.
"Beats me"
Jack looked at Sheek.
"…I'm just a mouse"
"This doesn't make any sense…"
"It does" A new voice said.
All heads turned toward the room's entrance, just then noticing a figure that none of them recognized. Not that they could anyway. Save for the fact that the figure was clearly female, there wasn't much more to say yet since she was still covered in the shadows of the hallway, making her features indiscernible. The mere fact that it wasn't just the three of them was disconcerting enough. Who was that woman and how in the world had she found this place?
"You have follow us!" Sheek accused, practically answering his companions' wonder.
They heard her laughing. "As if I could have anything to do with losers such as you who have nothing better to do with their time than sneaking into places like this!"
"Well, my dear lady" Jack began, trying to stay calm and polite, even though the girl seemed to be anything but nice "Exactly what are you doing here then?"
"Me? I got a date"
"A date?" Kei asked bewildered.
"That's right!" She confirming, stepping out of the shadows and showing herself as a really beautiful young lady of about twenty years, maybe less. Long, radiant blond hair and beautifully deep blue eyes accentuated her elegant and well formed figure, which was pretty well shown through her red and black cheerleading uniform. "A date with destiny!"
Now, just from what hole had this girl popped out from? She, with her words and so unfitting attire for the location, made nearly as little sense as the mystery they were trying to solve just before she arrived. Then again, didn't she just say that it all did made sense?
Kei felt scared, but decided to take his chances, and so, he approached "So, anyway we can help y-!!"
But he never got to finish that sentence. As soon as he was in her arms' reach, one hit from those thin and apparently weak arms was enough to send him flying toward the wall, regardless of how unbelievable that sounded. A big crack reminded on the stone Kei smashed, and there he remained sitting. Sheek instantly ran to assist him, while Jack just stared in terror at the not just beautiful, but also deadly girl who was now approaching towards him…
Or so he thought, until he got out of the way between her and the stone coffin.
He didn't like the way this was going.
"…Are you the one who has been seduced by the power of darkness?"
All the present ones, except for the girl, looked around for the source of that voice, which seemed come from nowhere and everywhere at the same time, as if the sound was simply an echo of the room. But… was that really a sound?
And what did it mean by that? Could it be referring to…?
"Told you I had a date" The cheerleader said, answering Jack's inner question, when he looked at her.
"Humans and demons alike… are all destined to die. Every life must come to an end. Yet, still you challenge the order of the universe."
It… wasn't through the wind or the material. No… that voice… it was as if it appeared right in their minds.
"So what if I do?"
The whole tomb trembled, as if angered with the girl's reply. The voice also sounded angered.
"Do not lose sight of the truth! Your struggle is nothing but futile"
"We'll see about that…" She replied, sounding as if she was containing her own anger "You can come out and prove yourself that. Bring what I came for: Your key to heaven!"
The trembling suddenly came back, more intensive than before, moving the sand and the ground together and gathering fractures around the whole construction, specially in the coffin. It ended only when the lid, having gathered uncountable fissures, was blown into thousands of tiny pieces as if something had exploded inside. Then, only silence remained.
Trembling because of his fear, but driven by his curiosity as an archeologist, Jack did the same thing the cheerleader was doing: He approached to the coffin and took a look inside, half-expecting something to crawl out of it, but finding it absolutely empty. Confused, he looked at the dangerous girl, who was looking around frenetically while pressing her teeth hard together.
"What's going on?" He dared to ask.
"He's here… somewhere…" She replied, still looking around. However, that answer only increased his worries.
"Who?"
"So much for an archeologist!" She said, this time looking at him and practically scolding him "The High Priest… Daisoujou!"
A bell rang, echoing through the place and alarming everyone in it. It seemed like the heightened sound of a tiny bell, and for the rhythm of it, it sounded like… a sutra?
"So be it. It is my duty to save those who have gone astray."
Instantly, the cheerleader adopted an improvised fighting position, still looking around for her apparent enemy.
"My sutra shall grant you eternal rest. Now… receive my salvation! Accept your death!!"
The silence before the storm surrounded them only for a few seconds 'til they heard that bell again… and what seemed like explosions surged from the sand, which turned out to be creatures emerging from beneath it. In matter of seconds, the place was crawled with fiends that Jack recognized as "Arachne"s, spider-like demons he had known about from Jen's previous encounters with them, which made them part of his large archive about demons. These creatures' body was mostly the one of a spider (a giant one, of course), thought with much more deadly spikes at the end of its eight legs, but while keeping the typical arachnid abdomen, their upper body was humanoid and feminine, showing bare breasts and oval and hairless heads, but still with those spiky legs instead of arms and big insect-like red eyes. They all shrieked, high and loud, in premonition to the upcoming fight, and then they charged forward to the cheerleader.
Stepping aside, Jack ran towards his companions and quickly helped Kei to stand up.
"Butts out, we have to get out of here"
"We can't" Kei told him.
"What!?"
"The tremor blocked the entrance" He made him notice
"…fuck!" He cursed. He wasn't one who'd usually swear, but nobody could tell him that the situation didn't practically ask for it, specially with two arachnes approaching them right now. "Any ideas, Sheek?"
He was actually expecting his typical 'I'm just a mouse', however, their surprise could simply not be hidden when the petite guide suddenly let out a battle cry and withdrew two sables which made them wonder just where had he kept them, as both weapons were actually larger than him. But just as quickly as he pulled them out, he jumped with amazing agility to battle the demons. Promptly, his blades cut a nice numbers of the spiders' legs, reducing their mobility, and then he jumped on top of one, practically separating the human and spider sides as he cut it in half.
"Just a mouse" Jack said, amazed of their buddy's fighting skills.
"Talk about low profile!" Kei exclaimed.
The cheerleader, on the meantime, was fighting a bigger number or arachnes, all by herself, but without so much troubles either. Her thin and agile body eluded all the tackles and attacks they tried to make on her, and her punches were precise and powerful, every single one enough to send each demonic spider to the nearest or the farthest wall with just one hit, or to make even nastier maneuvers, such as piercing one arachne's chest with her bare arm, grab another one's head with the same arm's hand, and pull the demon through its sibling's body right before smashing both of them against another arachne. Another was sent flying, and another was crushed against the floor as she bathed herself in their blood, but for each one she killed, more and more would come.
Sheek wasn't giving up either, regardless of how many of these monsters would appear, but that didn't mean he was having this as a cakewalk either. He was practically jumping from one arachne to another, attacking in every opportunity. Eventually he found a free spot on the floor where he could land, and once there, he turned around facing the amazing horde of nasty bug… and ran as fast as his little legs would allow him towards them, making paths between or below them, cutting everything that stood in her way and leaving a trail of death and/or mutilated arachnes behind him, until one of them intercepted his blades and stopped him on death track, confronting him on a match of strength, which wasn't really the mouse's field. And on top of that, another arachne was right behind him!!
However, his despair dissipated quickly as Kei, now recovered, kicked the dirty arachnid demon, saving his ally. While not much of a fighter, Kei knew that being just a witness wasn't really an option. Problems came when he suddenly felt something spiteful and sticky surrounding his upper body and arms: An arachne's web. With his severally reduced mobility, Kei turned around to see the one spider that was holding him with its muggy web, and to spot just in time another one jumping towards him! Luckily, kneeling was just enough to avoid him, and right after that, Sheek cut the net holding him to the demon, and Kei summoned all of his arms' strength to break free of the sticky maze surrounding him, quickly going back to the fight.
Even Jack was fighting, with surprising calm thanks to his shared experiences with Jen, and using a very unusual yet quite effective weapon: An insecticide spray he was keeping in his bag. Not powerful enough as poison to actually kill them, but more than enough to irritate them and leave them temporally blind, making them easy targets for Sheek or the cheerleader. But he wasn't really trying to defeat as many as he could, but actually searching for way to stop this crazy situation. If there was only… wait, the pillar with which he just bumped into while walking backwards… it had a severe crack near its base. Could this…?
"Girl!" He didn't really trust the cheerleader, but like they say: Your enemy's enemy is your friend, right? Or at least your ally on your current situation.
An exchange of glares was enough to transmit what he wanted to tell her. The cheerleader got rid of the arachne holding her arm and jumped, with superhuman capability, from one extreme of the room to another, landing right beside the indicated pillar and hitting it hard on its crack. Like Jack expected, the girl's amazing strength was enough to break the stone and lead the heavy column to fall hard on the floor, squashing a big number of demons and giving them a surprising moment of peace. Kei and Sheek just finished killing another arachne together, but the rest remained quiet for a moment. Were they impressed for the latest mass murdering of their siblings? Or were they waiting for something?
Then they all hear it… (or felt it)… Daisoujou's voice again!
"Fool… how long will you remain attached to life? No matter how many candelabra you gather, the shadow on your heart will not be lifted."
"Candelabra…" The cheerleader repeated in a whisper…
"You shall be consumed by the fire of your worldly desires!"
"That's it!" She suddenly exclaimed.
Only then Jack noticed the sidepack on the back of the girl's waist, from where she pulled out just what was mentioned: A candelabrum, one of classical appearance and seven red candles on it. She held it between her hands, pressing it tight, as if she were focusing hardly on it… and then, the seven candles got suddenly lighted up, its fire causing a sort of red fog to float around the room. The arachnes seemed… scared of that, for some reason. The cheerleader was looking around once more, looking for someone, until she finally spotted it by looking up… and then she smirked.
"Found you"
The guys looked up too, finding the one that was causing all this, the one summoning the demons and owner of that sinister voice. It wore traditional clothes of a priest, or more precisely, as high priest, like the girl had said, but the disturbing fact was not its clothes, nor the fact that it was floating freely in the air while staying in a Buddha-like sitting position. What really made it creepy was the fact that the "guy", so to say, was nothing but bones! Only his face and hand could be seen through the clothes, but they were only a skull and some skeleton fingers.
What kind of being was this? Jack had never heard of a demon like this.
The cheerleader punched and kicked two more arachnes that stood in her way, and then she ran toward the supposedly giant gravestone, jumping on it and, to the amaze of the few witnesses, start running it up! At this, all the demonic spider tried to stop her, a few even standing in her way, but she kept running upwards, removing any enemies from her path but, Jack noticed, without using her right hand, which seemed to be glowing… more and more with each second.
Finally reaching the end of the gravestone, the girl jumped from the top of it and to the skeleton priest, finally using then her glowing fist to land the most amazing impact ever seen by anyone in the room. An explosion of light blinded them for a second and the next thing they knew is that the cheerleader landed back on the ground while the arachnes let out a dying scream as their bodies turned into sand and disappeared. She had done it…
Or so they thought for a moment, but when they looked up again, they found out that the so called Daisoujou wasn't really done yet. The attack had destroyed most of its body, but the skull was still attached to the shoulders, the shoulders to the right arm, and it to the right hand. And in said hand… there was that bell.
Just when she looked up, she was met by nothing less painful than a rain of thunder falling right on top of her. She felt the electrical impact ran through her body, torturing every nerve and causing small burns through her clothes. Yet, she stood still and firm as she could despite of the pain, growling and pressing her teeth. More thunders fell, and the men felt even worried about her.
"Now… DIE!!"
The bell rang once more… and an incredibly big thunder broke through the tomb's roof and fell right on top of her, just to be met by her battle cry and her bare hands blocking the electrical energy, which was not only stopped, but also sent back to its invocator!
No more words of Daisoujou were heard. The last remains of its body turned into dust after receiving its own attack, and from that… something fell to the ground: A candelabrum identical to the cheerleader's.
Tired, the girl fell on her knees for a moment, and Jack considered approaching toward her… just to be received with hostility as she turned away the hand he offered and gave him a threatening stare.
"Stay away if you value your life" She warned him.
Somehow, he didn't feel really threatened, but he knew that it would be better to listen this time, so he simply stepped back, letting her stand up by herself and walk toward her prize: the fallen candelabrum.
"What now?" Kei asked, close to Jack. The archeologist only shrugged.
But the story wasn't quite over yet.
"What the-!?" The girl suddenly exclaimed.
Just when she was about to pick up the candelabrum from the sand, it flew away from her hand! And when she followed its track by sight, she saw it landing on the hand of someone who wasn't there before.
On the top of the giant gravestone, two persons looked down at her. Two women, both of them young, and one of them had the candelabrum, her candelabrum!
"Give me back that!" She exclaimed, her anger returning.
"Where is he!?" One of the girls, the one not holding the candelabrum, exclaimed.
She didn't know (yet) who they were talking about by "He", but she couldn't care less. For the cheerleader, those girls had already gone over the limits, FAR over the limits! And they were going-to-PAY!
Growling out her effort, the blonde girl picked up the very same column she had hurl down before and lifted it with her own hands, regardless of how impossible that seemed. And as if that wasn't enough, she threw it at full speed toward the other girls!!
But even such demonstration of inhuman strength couldn't be enough, as the pillar was suddenly cut in half by one of them. Both half parts fell back to the ground along with the girl. She wasn't the one who had the candelabrum, she was the one who had made the question. She was young, probably not even twenty, had short black hair and Asian features, and she was wearing a light gray skintight suit that covered even her hands and feet and included many accessories around it, including a katana's sheath in her back, in which she put back the crystalline sword she had just used to cut the pillar, a couple of combat knife in a sheath attached to her legs, an equipment belt and some sort technological accessory on her left wrist, whatever it was.
"WHERE-IS-HE?" She asked again, clearly angry.
The cheerleader stayed quiet for a moment, apparently thinking about something, but then she snapped back to her senses, ready to kick this tomboyish girl's ass. Her entire body glowed for a moment with the same energy she previously charged her fist with, and then she let free of that energy by giving a strong stamp to the ground and conducting that power through it, giving birth to a threatening crack that went toward the girl, freeing a golden light from beneath the ground. The Asian teen dodged that, but didn't realize it was only a distraction that would leave her open to the cheerleader's next and direct attack: A punch she barely managed to block, but that still sent her flying backwards, directly towards Jack to be precise. The older man caught her between his arms and both ended up against the tomb's wall, which was strong enough of an impact to leave them both on the floor for a moment.
The blonde girl started walking towards them, determined to put an end to this girl who dared to get in her way, but she stopped when she heard the unmistakable sound of someone landing behind her. She smiled. The other girl, the one who held the candelabrum, had just come down!
This one girl's appearance was far more unusual than the other one's. She also wore a skintight full body suit, though this one was black with green lines and denoted far sexier curves. There was a pouch beside her left knee, but there didn't seem to be any other particular thing or garment, except for the curious-looking eye-patch covering her right eye. She also had long raven-black hair, but the unusual element of her was her pale green skin, something that was definitely odd. Of course, not that it mattered much anyway, since she would be death soon and the candelabrum would be back in her hands.
But almost like a provocation, the green-skinned girl quickly threw the candelabrum over her and toward her partner, who caught it right on time.
"Got a death wish!?" The cheerleader threatened.
The green lady looked at the blonde girl, one serious green eye meeting a couple of angry blue ones, and faced her.
"Leave her to me and get them out of here!" She exclaimed for her partner.
"But-!"
"Do it!" She exclaimed, and for some reason, her hair started to float around her head, as if wind flew through it.
Understanding that her partner, the tomboyish girl nodded and went for the three men in the room.
"Interesting… power" The cheerleader said. She could… feel it. It was there, through the air, coming from her green opponent and reaching her, tickling her face, and it was actually very powerful. But of course, not even close to powerful as her power! "Very well" She added smiling, her entire body beginning to glow with her golden energy as strange marks started to appear all over her skin "Let's wrap this up… shall we?"
Just like the other woman, the blonde's hair began to float around because of the energy flowing through every last cell of her being. Both adversaries could feel their powers colliding. The ground began to shake again, stronger and stronger with each second. The sand began to float around, causing a violent sandstorm right inside the tomb and reducing everyone's visibility. Cracks began to appear all around the ground, all of them revealing that yellowish bright. But on top of all that, and as consequence, was the worst of the worst: The tomb was falling apart!
By that time, visibility was nearly null. Jack, Kei and Sheek couldn't do anything at this point but only let themselves be carried to wherever the Asian girl was taking them. Soon they found themselves in a stone platform which was probably a fallen part of the structure, and then they heard two of the three girls screaming, but couldn't distinguish who they were. But by the time they noticed, they weren't in the tomb anymore, but flying on the stone platform they were placed which had been, somehow, threw out of the building at an unbelievable speed! It lasted only a few seconds until they landed on a rock field, outside the depression that revealed the tomb. But the fact that they reached there was unbelievable already.
However, the same magic that moved the sands was now playing its trick backwards and burying the falling crypt once again. Inevitably they felt sad for their discovery's fate, but they knew there was something more important to worry about right now: The girls, but just where were them!?
"Over there!" Sheek exclaimed, pointing with his blade to one spot in the disappearing depression, where they could see the Asian girl running against the sand's flow and fighting her way to avoid getting entombed herself, and she was carrying her partner on her shoulder. Unfortunately, it didn't seem like they were going to make it.
"We got to help them!" Kei exclaimed.
"We can't" Jack stated "If we jump in there, we'll be suck by the sand."
"But what do we do!?" The Japanese man asked.
"Look, look!!" Sheek exclaimed.
The struggling girl raised her left arm up and the accessory on her wrist shoot a tiny grappling hook that reached the rock field they were placed. The men instantly held its metallic cable as hard as they could.
"At the count of three!" Jack proposed.
"THREE!!" The three of them screamed and instantly began to pull with all their might.
With their combined efforts, they managed to get both girls out of there and bring them to safe land just around the same time the sands stopped moving and there was no longer any sight of the ancient tomb. Once on safe land, the Asian girl leaned her partner down. The green girl was barely conscious.
"Is she okay?" Kei asked.
"Yeah, she's just… tired" The tomboyish girl replied.
Kei looked back at where the tomb had been, ironically, entombed again. He was still trying to pile up the pieces of what happened back there. Everything just went so fast and unexpected, and he still couldn't comprehend just how the hell they got out of there. Furthermore, who were these girls? And who was that cheerleader they met? Who had been an enemy and who had been an ally?
They fought, right? In the last moment, everything was decided in the fight between the cheerleader and the green lady. And only one of them came back, and in her partners arms. That could only mean one thing, and that was that the cheerleader had been buried in the crypt's collapse. She was either death already or choking her last breaths with what little air might remind there for her, either way, there was nothing they could do.
Sheek had already put his sables back to where they belonged, wherever that may be, and now he was whispering a prayer of his land in a language nobody could understand. Apparently, being still alive was enough for him to be thankful and forget everything else.
Jack sighed all the adrenaline out and sat down on the floor. This journey sure had more than one unexpected twist, and there sure were a lots of question he wanted answer for, but for now, he was just glad it was all over.
He had no idea of how wrong he was… since back in the tomb, or what reminded of it, there was still a small chamber that remained even after the collapse and that was being sustained by its only inhabitant, whose effort could be compared only to the one of the mythological Atlas.
"That… green BITHC!" She cursed out loud.
She was foreseeing hours, maybe even days of struggle to get out from where she was trapped, but, for once, it seemed like she had previously taken the right decision that would eventually bring her favorable outcomes. The dark cloud that was appearing in front of her was the proof of that, just like the figure that was appearing from it.
"Oh, my…" A male voice said, with a mix of arrogance and politeness that the cheerleader couldn't help but to hate "You got yourself in some… how should I put this? …'tight situation', my dear Stacy"
Oh, she would so smack him if she just didn't have her hands busy holding the roof!
"Shut the hell up…" She said, then paused herself at the notion of her words of choice "Or better, shut the heaven up and tell me, who the hell were those girls?!"
It did surprise him a bit that she would rather ask that first instead of demanding to be gotten out of there right away. "What girls?"
"Don't play dump! It was you for whom they were looking for!"
He remained silent for a moment. Although Stacy couldn't see more than his eyes, she did notice he was thinking of something. But damn the wait! Her arms and shoulders were killing her!!
"I see… those two are indeed persistent" He finally said, and then… it seemed like he grinned.
"So you do know them!"
"Yeah… but never mind. They won't be able to do much, anyway"
"They took a Candelabra with them, you idiot!!"
"And because of that, they have doomed themselves to be chased by the Majins like Daisoujou. You won't even have to bother with them. Just let Hell's Angel take care of them and later you'll be able to get a hold on two Candelabras by defeating him."
Nice plan, yeah, but being such a smartass only made his guy more detestable for the cheerleader. Just how long did he plan to keep her there? No way she was going to ask for it!
"Let's go now. Cobalt is waiting"
'About time!' She thought as the shadow covering him started to surround her too.
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In another corner of the world, one airship flew over the pacific sea headed towards the land of one of the world's most ancient cultures. Jen had never been in Japan before, but she wasn't too worried about the language. Of course, watching Anime, even as much as her, doesn't really gives one much more than a simple introduction to Japanese, but from what Ron Stoppable had told her, many people at the Yamanouchi could speak English.
Getting out of the ship's storage cabin, where Dave and she had managed to build some pseudo-beds to sleep, she walked towards the ship's pilot, a violet skinned man of nearly thirty years.
"Sleep well?" Said man asked.
"Yeah" She replied, combing her hair with her own fingers at the lack of a hairbrush. "Thanks for the assistance, Mr. Mego"
Mego, like Jen, was a man working on the "Ranks of Justices", to put it in a better way then "Hero Business". He was part of a superheroes team known as "Team Go", from Go City. And following the trademark of their names, all the members' aliases, like "Mego", ended with Go. The team had been formed more than ten years ago (which meant a lot more of experience of the field than what Jen had), when four siblings (three brothers and a sister) were put in contact with a rainbow-colored comet that fell from the sky. This comet granted them multiple superpowers and enhanced abilities, besides some notable physical changes. Mego's skin's and hair's color, both purple, were a good example of that.
"Whenever you need help, you know just who to call" He said, with notable air of arrogance, but that quickly disappeared during his next words. "Besides, in the end, it's all for Miss Possible, right?"
"…right" She replied, although she couldn't be sure if it was for her. It felt more like thank to her.
"Then it's the least I can do after all that happened. It might have not had a good ending, but still…"
"I am… sorry about your sister, Mego"
"Yeah… but let's let the past be past"
This was the first time Jen ever met Mego, or any actual member of Team Go. But even so, something could tell her that this man had pretty much grow up a lot lately. Probably because of what happened to his sister.
Anyway, better not to get melancholic now. She had a job to do, after all.
"We should be arriving in about half an hour" Mego informed "You should be waking up your boyfriend"
"He's not my boyfriend" She said, but went back to wake him up.
Entering the diminutive storage cabin, which surprisingly proved to be a nice place to rest, she found Dave still sleeping under the cover. She grabbed him by the shoulder and shook him a bit.
"Wake up, lazy head. We're about to arrive"
"Just five more minutes, mommy"
She didn't know whenever he was consciously kidding or unconsciously saying nonsense, but she didn't care. "Five more minutes, my ass, sonny. You're getting up… NOW!" And with that, she pulled the covers away from him.
And from outside the cabin, Mego could clearly hear a high-pitched girly scream that pierced even his ears, and just seconds later Jen came out of the cabin with her face redder than even Kim Possible's hair.
"Do you HAVE to scream like that!?" Dave asked her from inside. Obviously he wouldn't be able to sleep any longer after such awakening.
"Since when do you sleep naked!?" Jen retorted.
"Since always!!"
"You never told me about that!"
"We never got to sleep together before!"
"And couldn't you warn me about that!?"
"Are you kidding!? You would have freaked out and most likely forbid me to get undressed!"
"Of course!"
"See!?"
Eventually, the blonde boy came out of the cabin fully dressed but his hair made a mess. He didn't seem to care, though. His mind was trying to remember something else…
"Again? Why did ask Ron if he wanted to come with us?"
"There wasn't time. The airship was already on its way for us"
"Too bad"
"Yeah, I know… but still, we've been asking for his help too many times the last two months. We got to stand for ourselves too"
Dave nodded. She was right. They should take care of their business themselves, specially when it was their case, like the villainess they were after right now. Not to mention that Ron also had his own business to deal with. Even though Kim had practically retired, Team Possible was still running on business, even though it was only Ron, Rufus and Wade now. They tried to stay away from big troubles that Ron might not be able to handle without Kim, but they were helping, indeed. Not leaving all the work to just them was undoubtedly a big help. Besides, Ron had actually accomplished some good works too, like managing to send Dr. Drakken back to prison once again when he escaped, or his latest stitch with Monkey Fist.
"Are you parachuting, like last time?" Dave asked, returning to the present case.
"Yeah" Jen said, "Mego will pick us up later"
"You guys got my number" He added "But say… are you sure you won't be needing any help?"
"Thanks for the offering, but Cobalt is my case, my rival"
"Well… fine then."
"As long as you don't fall for her just like Kim did for Shego."
She stamped his foot again! "Dave!"
"AUCH! Hey, I was just kidding!"
She grabbed him by his messy hear, dragging his ear close to her so only he could hear her "Yeah, in front of Shego's brother, you idiot!"
At the mention of that, Dave understood his tactless mistake and instantly slapped himself, following by giving a sincere apology to the purple hero.
"C'mon, kid, don't sweat it" He replied "Like I said, let the past in the past. Words from a veteran hero, remember them"
She had heard about Mego's egocentric attitude before, but still… she felt like he was right. Actually, she knew he was right. She had been fighting crime and other things for just a few years, and regardless of how much she wanted, she couldn't always come back home victorious. Sometimes there were victims, and then there were tears, and they just hadn't save the day. It's hard to keep up with the same determination after that, but still… she learned the hard way that she should just forget about that as soon as possible, or it could get her during her next mission, affecting her performance. Being a hero for so long, Mego was ought to know that too.
"Thank you"
"You're welcome. Now grab your things, boys. We're almost there."
"Roger" Dave replied.
"Let's go" She said, equipping her parachute and getting close to the airship's trapdoor. "We got a date"
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Author's Notes: So… liked Jen? Liked Stacy and the rest of the cast? Well, you can thank Blackbird for that, as he's the one who created almost every Non-canonical characters of this Fanfic. Jen Credible and her team, along with Stacy and Cobalt, who's appearing in the next chapter, are his creation and belong to him, just like KP's characters belong to Disney, and in case you may be wondering, canonical characters will have their role in this story soon enough.
And as you may probably suspect if you've read through all this, I'm writing this story in a fanfic's universe. To be more precise, this story follows after Blackbird's "Maternal Instinct" fanfic, after its alternative ending "Another Possibility", to be more specific. But the reason for which I didn't mention any of this at the beginning was because, as you may have noticed, I'm giving every character and element its deserved introduction, so there's really no need to read through Blackbird's fanfic if you haven't, as everything you need to know will be explained in it's rightful way. Yeah, there might be a couple of this that may cause some wonders, such as why is Kim retired, but that's for the sake of keeping you readers interested, and will eventually be explained too. Of course, you can, and probably should, read Blackbird's fanfic series, as they are some of the best work out there.
So, with that said, all that remains is the typical disclaimer, and that's that, save for the story, nothing of this belongs to me and I'm making no profit either. And just to clarify, with this said, I'm not going to be repeating the disclaimer in the following chapters. Point.
Finally, I admit that there might probably be many grammar errors in the story, for which I apology, but I must say that English isn't my first language, and so, well… I do my best.
Thanks to Zearth (Trackula) for his help, and 'til next chapter.
Next chapter: To know the truth sometimes just brings more questions, doesn't it?